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Some Answers for the Labs

Well I had 2 of the most knowledgeable people online that I know give me their opinions on my lab results.

First off, the lab ranges Quest Diagnostics use are pathetic. The one lady suggest I get everything retested on Day 3 of my cycle at Labcorp or some other lab. I'm still thinking about what I will do. If I had known that Quest's lab ranges were so terrible, I would have gone to labcorp for these. Ugh...I feel like all the effort I put into this was for nothing. I don't want to pester Dr. Goldstein again AND my biggest fear is that the insurance company will deny it the 2nd time around! The blood work would have cost about $2500 out of pocket!

The lab ranges specifically for cortisol, ACTH, IGF-1 were awful. The one lady said that the IGF-1 result looks terrible, but with the really weird lab range she has no idea how to interpret it! My growth hormone is very low too, but I know some people say this isn't accurate because it goes out in pulses. Who knows. Considering I'm only 24 years old, it should be pretty high IMO.

Secondly, they both say that my results clearly indicated secondary adrenal insufficiency because of the low potassium, low sodium and low renin. My low aldosterone goes along with all of this.

Thirdly, serum cortisol is both free and bound so I can't compare saliva results to blood results. For some reason I have a lot of bound cortisol (which can't be used by the body) and a very small amount of free cortisol (that can be used by the body). One lady suggested testing Total & Free cortisol and CBG in the blood, but only Quest Diagnostics can do this! haha

The one lady asked me a bunch of questions, but I have yet to hear back from her. She was wondering why my saliva progesterone was so high and thought I was taking HRT for it! I had to set her straight on that.

Fourthly, regardless whether it is primary or secondary, I am definitely hypothyroid according to both women....

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